Highlights

The Manali-bound bus was in the middle Pathankot-Mandi road when the landslide debris fell on it.

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Rescue operations underway and so far a dozen bodies have been recovered.

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The bus according to state transport minister GS Bali was carrying over 40 passengers.

Nearly 50 passengers who had boarded two ill-fated Himachal Roadways Transport Corporation buses on Saturday had never imagined that death was waiting for them in the form of a huge landslide.

The bus, which had left Chamba and was on its way to Manali, was in the middle of the stretch of Pathankot-Mandi road when the landslide debris fell on it.

Locals heard a loud noise when the entire Kotroopee hill started moving. The debris first fell on four houses,luckily none was at home. The Manali-bound bus was second causality. The bus according to state transport minister GS Bali was carrying over 40 passengers.

The bus driver did not get a chance to save himself and the passengers as the amount of debris was enormous and beyond imagination. The volume of the landslide matter can be estimated from the fact that parts of bus were recovered from a distance of one km from the road.

RESCUE OPERATIONS ON

More than 40 people were feared killed in the Mandi landslide incident. The local administration began the rescue operations at 2.30am and so far has recovered a dozen bodies of passengers. Rescue was on to locate nearly two dozen missing passengers. The number of missing passengers could be higher as the exact number of passengers travelling in Manali-bound bus is not known. However, the chances are very slim as the bus in which they were travelling was broken into pieces by the boulders. The local administration has, however, said the rescue will continue till all the bodies are recovered.

Another bus, which also met with an accident after the huge landslides occurred, was on its way to Katra.

According to the local administration there were 8 passengers including the bus staff when it was trapped under the landslide. While two passengers died on the spot 6 injured passengers were rescued early Sunday morning.

The survivors also include the bus driver and conductor.

Person who cheated death

Meet Ramesh Kumar, a local resident, who cheated death when a mountain slipped and fell on 50 passengers.

Ramesh, along with his friend, was on a motorbike on this road .They stopped when boulders started falling down. While Ramesh stopped ,his friend who was standing in the middle of the road was killed.

“I can still recollect the horror. The road on which I was standing started trembling when the hill was coming down. I heard sound of boulders and falling trees .It was horrible and painful also as I lost my friends,” says Ramesh, who survived.